They may look like the company photo of your accountants or law team, but underneath that faÃ§ade, St. Paul and the Broken Bones soulfully proves you canâ€™t judge a book by its cover. â€¦

St. Paul officially killed Minneapolis.

This wasnâ€™t another Twin Cities-area border battle- Birmingham, Alabama soul upstarts, St. Paul and the Broken Bones hit town at the Varsity Theater earlier this week and all but literally blew the roof off the place.

â€œâ€¦Oh S#*t!â€ someone up front in the crowd shouted, early in the bandâ€™s 90min. show-stopping set. Vocalist Paul Janeway heard the comment and responded, â€œOh S#*t is Right! Itâ€™s gonna be a good night!â€

John & Jacob

John & Jacob, a fellow Birmingham, Alabama duo w/band, opened the evening with a generous 50 min. set, ahead of their debut full-length release, due out August 12th. The alt-country/rock duo already has a self-titled/self-released EP out and aims for bigger success with melodic new songs such as â€˜Oh Melissaâ€™ and â€˜Breaking the Lawâ€™, which has been getting some airplay on CMT.

John Davidson & Jacob Bryant

EP song â€˜Be My Girlâ€™ was recently featured on ABCâ€™s Nashville and the five-piece will continue on the road, with a support slot for Kacey Musgraves, ahead of the albumâ€™s release. One of the distinguished trademarks of their good time, good olâ€™ boy sound, is Jacob Bryant picking up the trumpet for several songs, and the shared harmonies with counterpart, John Davidson. With Davidsonâ€™s cousin, Jake Thrasher on bass, itâ€™s mostly a family affair and was well received by the crowd.

Janeway

St. Paul and the Broken Bonesâ€™ debut album is called Half the City (Single Lock/Thirty Tigers Records) and while they have no connection to our Silver City, the title can certainly be interpreted as a nod. Six of the seven Broken Bones members took to the stage for the opening Booker T. cover- including trumpet and trombone players and led by guitarist Browan Lollar, while singer Janeway patiently waited in the wings.

The first words from Janewayâ€™s voice on â€˜Donâ€™t Mean a Thingâ€™ drew excited yelps from the audience; he, dressed in a cufflinked white shirt, matching white shoes, and dark suit (with red Alabama pin), prowled the stage, shaking and shimmying from end-to-end.

Janeway has a gospel-tinged delivery like his heroes Otis Redding and Sam Cooke, and the band proudly wears their 60â€™s-era Staxx and Atlantic Soul influences on their sleeve. â€˜Sugar Dyed Honey Pantsâ€™ and â€˜Dixie Rothkoâ€™ were both full-fledged retro-soul dynamite, with Janeway dropping to his knees, and getting on the good foot, much like James Brown would do in the day.

In front of the â€œbiggest crowd weâ€™ve ever played to as a headlining showâ€, the band felt an immediate warm welcome and fed off of the electricity. â€œA Sam Cooke song done in an Otis Redding styleâ€, â€˜Shakeâ€™, took the crowd back to 1964, while tempo slowed to a simmer for the albumâ€™s title cut and â€˜That Glowâ€™, before building again with â€˜Broken Bones & Pocket Changeâ€™.

Setlist

â€˜Let it Be Soâ€™ was the bandâ€™s â€œone love songâ€ for the evening, then was followed by a stomping cover of â€˜Down in the Valleyâ€™. â€œWhatâ€™s this one called? ...Call Me!â€™â€ shouted Janeway, as the band launched into the debut single from the new album, which had the audience clapping, with heads above heads. After a triumphant closing, â€˜Make It Rainâ€™, the band saved the best for last and the encore.

Watching off-stage for the whole show, no one seemed to have a better time than locals Caroline Smith and Lizzo, who joined the band for a hothouse Sam Cooke cover and Beatles-done-in-a-Wilson-Pickett-version of â€˜Hey Judeâ€™. Lizzo, known more for her hip-hop skills, slayed on the ever-soulful, â€˜A Change is Gonna Comeâ€™, playfully dueling vocally as she and the Broken Bones singer traded verses. Smith joined on-stage for harmonies on the final number, with the crowd dutifully playing its part in singing the acapella â€œna na na naâ€™sâ€ as one.

And with that, St. Paul had conquered Minneapolis. The advice is to run and not walk, to get tickets to see the bandâ€™s next area appearances in late July â€“ with Jason Isbell outdoors in Mankato, or back in town at the inexplicably smaller venue, Amsterdam Hall, where St. Paul and the Broken Bones will no doubt kill St. Paul as well.

St. Paul and the Broken Bones at Varsity Theater, Minneapolis (01 June 2014)